TUNE into a discussion of how diseases get their names on BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth, hosted by Michael Rosen with linguist Laura Wright, and guests me and Prof Peter Piot, who co-discovered Ebola, was a pioneer in the science of AIDS, and now heads up the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine…
This programme first aired on 6 February 2018. To listen, click here.
WHAT is it with us and the blame game? This year, Australia is taking the rap for sending us flu, a disease that has been endemic in humans for at least 10,000 years, and that grips much of the globe every flu season (the clue’s in the name)…
This comment piece first appeared in The Guardian on 9 January 2018. To continue reading, click here.
WHEN it comes to infectious diseases, Ebola and Zika have hogged the headlines of late. But the rise of exotic pathogens does not make more familiar ones less dangerous. Epidemiologists are therefore keeping a close eye on two versions of influenza, known as H5N1 and H7N9 (the “H” and the “N” refer to proteins in the viral coat, and the numbers to particular versions of those proteins). Either of these, they fear, might become pandemic…
This article first appeared in The Economist on 15 November 2016. To continue reading, click here.
IT MIGHT sound strange to suggest that flu is, in any sense, a hereditary illness. Classic inherited diseases, such as sickle-cell anaemia and cystic fibrosis, are caused by broken genes that come from a sufferer’s parents. Flu is caused by a virus…
This article first appeared in The Economist on 28 March 2015. To continue reading, click here.